Business News
drupacity Düsseldorf
Monday 14. January 2008 - A city bids its trade fair visitors an especially warm welcome
In just a few weeks time, all of Düsseldorf will be decked out in the seasons colour – “drupa red”. Thats because from 29 May to 11 June, the metropolis on the Rhine will become drupacity and welcome hundreds of thousands of international guests with the very best in a service-oriented programme. Messe Düsseldorf and the city will be rolling out the proverbial red carpet for exhibitors and visitors to the worlds No. 1 event for the print and media industry. A large number of drupartners in retail, hospitality, culture and many service sectors will unveil innovative information and service offerings tailored to drupa participants.
After all, for two weeks, Düsseldorf will be home to some 400,000 visitors, 1,800 exhibiting companies, their roughly 30,000 stand staff as well as more than 3,500 journalists from around the world. “Many years ago, we already started to build up a network of all host industry players. Among them are, for instance, retailers, hotels and restaurants but also taxi drivers,” says Manuel Mataré, drupa Project Director, explaining the idea. The avowed aim: “We want to be good hosts. Exhibitors, visitors and journalists should feel instantly at home in Düsseldorf – their drupacity.” Visually, this will be conveyed with posters, decorative banners and red double-decker buses. Plus, specially selected drupartners will be supplied with drupacity accessories as well as advertising media so that they can be easily identified by guests.
These exclusive drupartners are carefully selected businesses, restaurants, cultural facilities and other service providers whose offerings are especially customised to the requirements of trade fair visitors. Key factors underpinning these offers are multilingual service, a strong customer focus and fair prices. On top of this, each drupartner provides a special highlight, uniquely conceived as an additional bonus that only drupa guests receive. In a retail outlet, this added extra may be free delivery of purchased products to the buyers hotel or even home address; perhaps guests receive a token gift together with their purchases or a special discount. In the restaurant business, drupa guests will be treated to such inviting and, above all, free services as welcome drinks, starters, desserts, special drupa menus at bargain prices, discounts, percentages paid towards taxi fares.
In the large-scale malls and department stores in Düsseldorfs city center, a host of events, exhibitions and presentations will be staged that draw the publics attention to specialist drupa themes, thereby bringing drupa exhibitors and visitors and the citys residents closer together. Basically, drupa will become part of the city.
The drupartnerguide details all the drupacity offerings. Spread over some 100 pages (in German and English), all drupartners and their exact addresses will be listed together with their general service portfolio and the individual drupa-exclusive special offers. Whats more, the drupartnerguide will also contain a map of the city to help visitors quickly get their bearings. drupa guests can obtain the drupartnerguide at all trade fair info points, the Düsseldorf tourist information offices, in numerous hotels and from all drupainfomobiles.
The drupainfomobiles are red double-decker buses which, during the trade fairs run, will be parked at locations in Düsseldorf highly frequented by drupa visitors (the fairgrounds, Central Station, Königsallee, the Old Town etc.) at certain hours and serve as mobile information points. drupainfomobiles will be staffed by helpful, knowledgeable and multilingual advisory teams: drupaul and drupaula will not only distribute comprehensive information materials but are happy to help visitors with any questions they might have.
These friendly advisory teams comprising the drupauls and drupaulas will also receive trade fair guests on their arrival in drupacity Düsseldorf. Stationed at the airport, Central Station, fairground parking lots as well as the entrances to the Düsseldorf Trade Fair Center, they will hand out initial information flyers with basic drupacity facts and figures as well as the diverse offers available to drupa guests. Attached to these information flyers will be drupastilles or mint pastilles to give guests a refreshing foretaste of drupacity on arrival.